Tuesday, February 19, 2013

I've
seen Kraftwerk four times. Firstly in 1991 on The Mix Tour at Brixton
Academy. Next in1992
at a “secret” warm-up gig at Norwich University before the
Greenpeace show in Manchester. Then at the epic midnight show at
Brixton in 2004 and (possibly but not necessarily) finally at Tate
Modern.

In
the aftermath of David Cameron's speech on the European question and
open discussion of a British exit from the E.U., the high-profile
arrival of an explicitly EuropeanGerman
group with a futuristic vision couldn't have been more timely.

The Robots. Photo by A.M.

All
the Tate Modern shows opened with The
Robots,
possibly because the 3D effects are amongst the most impressive (at
least on this particular night). The figures looked colossal and the
monstrous, slowly rotating robot hands were both ridiculous and
threatening.

I
had never imagined I would see the majority of the Radio-Activity tracks live, let alone see the entire album performed in the Turbine
Hall yet here I was. Radio-Activity
gets less attention than it deserves, and seems overshadowed by it
predecessor Autobahn
and its successor Trans
Europe Express.

Radio-Activity. Photo by A.M.

One
explanation for this could be due to its political taintedness. In
1975 the title track was
seen by some as unambiguously pro-nuclear – the most unsavoury
expression of Kraftwerk's ardent technophilia. This view mistakes
ambivalence and ambiguity for an overtly pro-nuclear stance yet
whether it was justified or not, the fact that in 1991 Kraftwerk
rather unsubtly engineered in the word “Stop” shows that they
were sensitive to the criticism. There is also the question of the
cover image: the old-time radio depicted on the sleeve can induce
feelings of warm nostalgia for the golden age of radio, even in those
too young to have experienced this. Yet it is not just any radio but
a German radio (already enough to provoke some) and more specifically
a Third Reich-era Deutsche Volksempfänger (DKE brand Model 38). So
the album is marked by double fears of physical and
technological-political contamination, demonstrating how Kraftwerk
were subtly illuminating the darker aspects of the technological they
seemed to be celebrating.

Then
there is the mystical, other-worldly atmosphere that suffuses parts
of the album, primarily the sublime Radioland
but
also Uranium
and
The
Voice of Energy.
It was especially good to see the lyrics used as an integral part of
the 3D projections and it seemed that lyrics were used much more
extensively in the Radio-Activity
projections
than for the tracks from other albums. The fact that the German as
well as English lyrics were being used added another element and
demonstrated what many serious Kraftwerk listeners know: the German
lyrics seem to have a greater weight and seriousness. Seeing the line
The
Voice of Energy lyric
Ich
bin Ihr Diener und Ihr Herr zugleich

(I
am your servant and lord at the same time) was especially striking.
News/Nachtirchten
projected
a series of short headlines (including some on nuclear power), waves
of text appearing and receding in response to the sounds, succeeding
brilliantly in capturing the spirit of the original. The track
sounded more digital and had a fuller bass but the effect was subtle
and here you could see the advantage of performing the album in full
as some of the shortest tracks are actually the most interesting.

We
had incredibly high expectations for Radioland
and
Kraftwerk exceeded them. The sound was rich and warm and the stately
grace of the original shone through. The animated image of the
wireless showing the names of international stations was very
delicately done and evoked the ever more historically distant romance
of listening to distant radio transmissions (tuning into the
shortwave bands nowadays is an increasingly unrewarding and
melancholic experience as more and more stations are ceasing to use
this most mystical of frequencies).

In
general, apart from the title track, the album was subtly filled out
and updated rather than radically overhauled in the way that some
later Kraftwerk tracks have been and this worked very well. The same
could be said of the visuals - some of the graphics already existed
(see the booklet of the re-mastered 2009 edition of the album) but
the newer elements were very much in sympathy with the spirit of the
album.

Unfortunately
the reception of Uranium
and
Transistor
brought the phrase “pearls before swine” to mind. Some preferred
to drink and chat with their mates loudly rather than paying
attention to a historic performance (at least until they were curtly
requested to keep the noise down.)

I
imagine this wasn't such an issue during performances of the later
albums, which are far less introspective and atmospheric. Ohm,
Sweet Ohm (later
used by Igor Vidmar and Laibach as a eulogy for Tomaž
Hostnik and also memorably used at the end of the Chris Petit's film
Radio
On)
sounded as majestic as ever but perhaps the clouds of floating 3D
cellos on the projection were just a bit too kitsch.

From
this it was straight into Autobahn,
which is now accompanied by a long driving video which is charming
but a little empty, although the sequence of 3D notes floating out of
the car radio is charming. Trans
Europe Express now
features newer, more abstract visuals than before, primarily black
and white and more functional than those used on the 2004 tour. This
seems like a shame as the train footage used then and in 1991 is far
more evocative and romantic than the new 3D visuals.

Finally
getting to hear Spacelab
live was a great pleasure. In a sense the fact that this dynamic
track was being performed was enough in itself but it was played with
conviction and energy. Yet again the same can't really be said of
the visuals. The 1970s pulp-comic style drawing of a spaceship window
through which we view repeated runs over the Earth didn't really
convince. It seemed strangely amateur for Kraftwerk and detracted
(deliberately?) from the epic nature of the track. However, the way
in which the 3D satellite seemed to emerge into the audience was more
impressive.

On
the de
rigueur and
perfectly effective The
Model the
“classic” black and white visuals were left largely untouched
(although perhaps here it would have been interesting to update these
with more cyborg-like models). Sadly, The
Man Machine itself
was much weaker than the monumental version I heard at Brixton in
2004. It seemed lacking in bass and the main sequence seemed to
falter at times.

This
was followed by an unexpectedly long sequence from Computer
World
(which of course is one of the most important and prophetic
releases). The 3D animated Numbers
visuals
worked well and the track was full of energy. Each time Computer
World
itself is performed it's more poignant as we're a night closer to the
dystopian ideal of total surveillance the lyrics warned of in 1981.
The retro computer visuals looked both more old-fashioned and
more-advanced than when I've seen these tracks live previously and
it's great to see that Kraftwerk can still maintain this
retro-futurist tension even in the present day context. Computer
Love (which
in any case can never be quite the same again after Coldplay's
desecration of it) didn't feel right – somehow slightly too fast
and a little ragged. Kraftwerk seem to want to sound more live and at
times that can work really well but at other moments things didn't
quite cohere. Fortunately Home
Computer and
above all It's
More Fun to Compute were
much tighter and more powerful and the latter was one of the
highlights of the second part of the show.

The
opening chords of Tour
De France
were spellbinding and the original version came over very well, with
the classic retro cycling footage seeming even more romantic than at
previous performances, surprisingly they segued straight into the
2003 version where the 3D again worked well even if I again had the
feeling that it had been a little more powerful back then. Then
it was into Planet
of Visions which
was spirited but not wholly convincing. It might have been more
interesting to see an upgraded live version of Expo
2000 itself.
Here the visuals have a now-slightly-embarassing turn of the century
feel to them that's it's hard to get past.

Knowing
that I wouldn't be at the Techno-Pop
performance
I'd hoped to hear my old favourite The
Telephone Call live
for the first time but here there were no surprises, Krafwerk
finished with the standard crowd-pleasers Boing
Boom Tschak,
Techno
Pop
and the traditional Musique
Non Stop finale.
These were all in good shape, though again I found the Boing
Boom Tschak visuals
a bit too kitschily pop for my liking although it's a playful track
so maybe they're not so inappropriate. Techno
Pop sounded
great if maybe not quite as (positively) cold and clinical as I've
heard in the past. A powerful version of Musique
Non Stop seemed
to pass by far too fast but it was great to see each Kraftwerker
playing a brief solo sequence with relish. By the time his last
bandmate began his solo, Ralf seemed to be in a very jovial mood,
smiling benignly with crossed arms and nodding head.

So
definitely a memorable night with some incredible moments, yet
despite the monumental artistic context of Tate Modern and the
historic thrill of seeing Radio-Activity
it was less of a totality than the 2004 show. The inevitable DVD
release of these shows will give a chance to assess the shows better,
but I really hope that Radio-Activity
is
made available in full as it really deserves a wider audience.